MOVING FROM THE STATUS OF WOMEN TO GENDER INEQUALITY - CONCEPTUALIZATION, SOCIAL-INDICATORS AND AN EMPIRICAL APPLICATION

This paper extends the conceptualisation and refines the operationalis ation of gender inequality. The aim is to bridge theory - on gender re lations - and measurement - of the reality of gender for women and men - by means of a set of social indicators of gender inequality. We fir st elaborate the concept of gender inequality and differentiate it fro m 'women's status'. Gender inequality is defined as the departure from parity in the representation of women and men in key dimensions of so cial life. Next, we operationalise the concept through a set of social indicators developed from statistics provided in the United Nations W omen's Statistics and Indicators (WISTAT) database. The 21 indicators measure disparities in the distribution of women and men in socially v alued positions in five dimensions - physical well-being, public power , family formation, education and economic activity - within two spher es: human rights and social relations. Finally, we apply the social in dicators of gender inequality in a cross-national analysis of the disp arities between women and men at different levels of national developm ent. The findings reveal the dismal state of women's human rights acro ss all levels of national income and the disadvantage women experience in the interconnection between social relations of production and rep roduction in countries rich or poor. This more complex measure of gend er inequality has the potential to inform policy and practices aimed a t achieving gender equality.